Epilepsy Drugs, Breastfeeding: Safe for Kids?

Nov. 24, 2010 -- Breastfeeding while a mother is taking epilepsy drugs does not appear to harm a child's IQ, according to a new study that followed children born to women with epilepsy until age 3.

''We compared the breastfed babies to non-breastfed babies and basically found no difference at all in IQ at age 3," says researcher Kimford Meador, MD, professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta.

The average IQ found for the breastfed babies was 99, Meador tells WebMD, while the average for non-breastfed babies was 98. "The average for the general population is 100," he says.

The study is published in the journal Neurology.

During pregnancy and breastfeeding, ''there's clearly a theoretical concern that the drugs may harm the baby," Meador tells WebMD.

For instance, valproic acid, an epilepsy drug that is often avoided in reproductive-age women if possible, has been shown to contribute to major birth defects if used in the first trimester. In his previous research, Meador has found that at age 3, children who were exposed in utero to valproic acid had an IQ that was 9 points lower than children exposed to another epilepsy drug, lamotrigine.

The new study is an ongoing analysis of the Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (NEAD) Study, conducted from 1999 to 2004.

Analyzing Risks

For this study, Meador's team followed 194 pregnant women who were taking a single epilepsy drug. At age 3, they tested the IQ of the women's 199 babies (including twins).

Of these, 82 breastfed for a median of six months (half did so longer, half less) while the other 112 did not breastfeed.

No substantial differences in IQ tests at age 3 were found when the researchers compared breastfed to non-breastfed children, and no substantial differences were found between the four different drugs.

''Even kids who got valproate and breastfed had no difference," Meador says. This might be due to the lower dose of the drugs in breast milk that is transmitted to the baby compared to the amount the baby gets during in utero exposure, he says.